#and to me that kind of growth is really meaningful and also a good example for others whose hearts need setting right

[naamahdarling]

.

[imagitory]

Do you think Wish would have been better if they kept the concept of romance between Asha and the star boy, and the kind and queen being a villainous couple?

TL;DR...maybe.

I admit, I do really like human!Star and Magnifico/Amaya being a villainous couple as concepts -- but I don't think adding those ideas alone would've fixed Wish's shortcomings. Because I strongly believe the main reason so much of the Wish fandom has latched onto the idea of a romance for Asha in particular comes down to people feeling more for their mental AU concepts of Asha and Star than for Asha and the rest of her canon cast in the real finished product. There are no relationships in Wish -- ones featuring Asha or otherwise -- that I feel really prompt much investment or emotion in the audience.

Asha's mom and grandpa really don't have much time devoted to them, especially early on when we could establish some real history and pathos in their relationships with Asha. (Positive examples of this would be Ember and her dad in Elemental, Tiana and James and Eudora in The Princess and the Frog, or Mama Coco and Miguel in Coco.) We never even learn Asha's mom's dream even though it's picked up multiple times and the narrative makes such a big deal about Magnifico crushing it. The few lines discussing Asha's deceased father could've been cut from the story altogether and we would've lost nothing. Asha's friend group gets so little focus as individuals that it's hard to even remember most of their names. They were clearly envisioned as just "the Seven Dwarves but as teens," and honestly, them being vaguely like the Dwarfs is the only real impact they leave on a lot of people by the end. Or did a bunch of kids that went to go see the movie beg their parents for dolls of Simon and Bazeema after the movie was over? Asha and Star's dynamic can't be that interesting because Star doesn't spark any real character growth or change in Asha, nor does Asha really bond emotionally with Star. Star honestly just floats around looking cute for most of the movie, rather than doing that much of consequence. Valentino doesn't provide any significant emotional support for Asha, the way that even other cute Disney "pets" like Pascal or Pua do for isolated characters like Rapunzel and Moana. He also doesn't advance her journey in any meaningful way like Sebastian or Jacques and Gus do for Ariel and Cinderella, respectively. Asha and Magnifico's hero-villain relationship has no teeth because they have no real history prior to the events of the story (unlike Ursula using Ariel as a way to get back at her father Triton or Mother Gothel raising Rapunzel in isolation in an attempt to use her hair's magic to keep her young) and they don't serve as any kind of narrative foil to each other (unlike Jafar, who like Aladdin also uses magic and deception to try to advance his own goals, or Scar, who like Simba at the beginning of the movie "just can't wait to be king" and is focused way more on the perks of kingship rather than the responsibilities). Even Amaya and Asha can't have much of a relationship because there's no time set aside for it, and even if Amaya put in a good word for Asha with Magnifico, she didn't speak out on Asha's behalf after Magnifico vindictively cast her aside and really only decided to fight alongside Asha after Magnifico "went too far" by threatening Amaya herself (as opposed to, say, anyone else).

When my mum and I went to go see Wish, we came out of the theater feeling oddly blase about the whole story. My mum even -- upon me asking her about her thoughts on this topic before I sat down to write this -- admitted that although she "wanted to see evil defeated," and all that, she honestly just hadn't cared about any of the characters that much. She wanted Magnifico to lose because it was justice for Magnifico to lose -- not because she was actively rooting for Asha, her friends, or Rosas overall. She wanted good to triumph and evil to fail, but none of the characters and their relationships had made her that invested in seeing how that came about. And considering that every single character in every story ever written is largely shaped by the relationships they have with other characters, that means that Wish's primary failing is not a lack of romance, either for its main lead or its villains --

It's a lack of love.

Any kind of sincere, selfless, development-inducing, chemistry-fueled love. Not necessarily romantic love -- Disney's Revival work has actually shown just how diverse love can be through films like Zootopia, Encanto, and Frozen -- but real love between the characters, built on the back of history and camaraderie and meaningful screen time. Love that adds layers to their personality, fuels their choices and actions, and ultimately helps them bloom into better, more complete people. Instead I would argue that the only "love" in Wish is with ideas from past Disney projects -- that's why there are more Easter eggs and overt meta references to other projects in this movie than there are scenes that actively stir your emotions. You know -- the way Mulan does when she decides to steal her father's armor, or Marlin does when he gingerly picks up Nemo's cracked egg in his flippers and cradles it, or Cinderella's stepsisters do when they rip apart the dress the mice made for Cinderella, or Pinocchio does when he watches in horror as Lampwick turns into a donkey, or Tarzan does when he comforts Kala after he comes out dressed in his biological father's old clothes and she starts to cry.

The reason a lot of fans love these two ideas -- villain!Magnifico/Amaya and human!Star/Asha -- so much is because these two relationships, even just in concept art, prompted more emotion out of them than any relationship in the entire finished film.

Perhaps if that same level of emotion was brought out in these relationships in a real movie, that would've helped, but only if the rest of the film had also been trimmed down and edited so as to help tell a story with those two elements. Slim down the overstuffed cast. Have Asha's family actually have a point, or cut them. Give Asha and Magnifico some sort of real history and/or compare-contrast dynamic. Develop Star as a character. Give both Star and Asha character arcs. Make the music more essential to telling the story.

Without a lot of additional changes on top of those two concepts being used, I think the ideas of a hero and villain couple would've only just made the list of ideas that were only half-baked in the final product longer. After all, if Star was Asha's love interest, you'd still really have to have good writing and a lot of chemistry between the two characters in order to sell your audience on a love story between them. Not saying it can't be done -- Tangled and Elemental both did it quite well -- but just throwing the two characters together as is (namely, rather underdeveloped) and making them romantic partners by itself isn't enough. Honestly, I think a platonic or even familial-esque relationship between Star and Asha could've been just as powerful, if that love between them really came through. Just look at the bonds between characters like Judy and Nick from Zootopia or Miguel and Hector in Coco. Even keeping Star as less explicitly human could've been fine, if the relationship between them and Asha was strong enough. Stitch and Lilo's relationship is rock-solid in Lilo and Stitch, and Stitch isn't even remotely human. Even Soul did something kind of interesting with Joe Gardner and his relationship with 22 by giving them something of a mentor-student bond. Maybe a quasi-"young parent/child" relationship between Asha and Star could've even been interesting, if it was written well!

I do think both ideas had great potential in giving Wish more of an identity that could help set it apart from its predecessors -- I mean, we've never had a human character have a romance with a supernatural being or a villainous couple in a Disney animated film before -- but including them wouldn't have fixed Wish by itself.

[cornyonmains]

Finished The Eclipse. I honestly feel like I had the right instinct to tune it out the first time, but I do think it's interesting in that you can really see the baby steps GMMTV was taking to grow up a little bit.

You can really look at The Eclipse and see a show where it's clear GMMTV really diminished its potential with a lot of its own standards, and to their credit, I think they stood back and took a hard enough look at it, the BL environment in general, and how absolutely hard fans were calling out their bullshit and decided to get real with Only Friends.

The Only Friends cast is heavily indicative of this being the case. GMMTV was gunning for elevated talent that knew how to play ball, and Neo, First, and Khao were all shining stars in The Eclipse, that blasted their scene partners out of the water. Force and Book are intensely unique, as they've always been shafted with bad scripts and sexually repressed directors, despite the fact they came into the game with a lot more professionalism and comfort with the material they were handling. The director didn't wind up sobbing in the corner because they refused to move their mouths when they kissed. They're also a much more 'modern' ship, that doesn't default on yaoi contrasts and that weird seme/uke binary. After the success of KinnPorsche, and popularity of MileApo, I think GMMTV finally saw the potential in this pairing. About time.

But the casting is very indicative of GMMTV kind of telling fans, "We've been listening, we hear you, and we're making changes." Only Friends corrects a lot of complaints the fandom has been having.

Adults, for example, don't have much in this genre. Part of the reason The Eclipse fell short for me is it's just another damn coming of age drama. Great for the baby gays, but the adults are over it. GMMTV gave us Neo eating Mark's ass like groceries then getting godless with Force in the backseat of a car, and I'll live 10 years on that alone.

The plot contrivances they have to cook up to keep everyone from doing anything but doing a cutaway kiss with no tongue in the final episode is no more, people are fucking nasty, so now there's room for actual plot, which is hilariously ironic. But also, it's not, because I mean the desire women have for horny softcore erotica with good plots and high production value is not unknown.

Queer women and bisexuals have been complaining about a lack of representation. At the core of these yaoi tropes is a world where bisexuality has no meaningful distinction from being gay, which is really annoying, because bisexuals have a much different experience in the queer community, and that's not reflected in a world where X amount of interpersonal communication can magically turn anyone gay. Queer women just don't exist in BL. Women are all straight virgins trying to steal your man. Only Friends has lesbians. Actual FDA approved lesbians. Are they fucking nasty? No, but it's something. We are allowed to exist in the world of Only Friends and that's HUGE.

People have been complaining about the cringe. Only Friends removed that and replaced it rage provoking stupidity by the characters, and I approve of that.

Anyways, analysis is what I do for a living. TV is well within the ballpark. So while I'm only basing my thoughts on what I've observed and not cold hard numbers, there's only so much insight I can provide, but it's insight backed by years of experience. With Only Friends posting absolute numbers, we can expect to see some structural changes at GMMTV on the horizon, because this is going to create growth. Probably even stimulate a search for new actors to get on their roster, since they have a lot of actors that won't be able to deliver going into the new era. I also think this is going to help them land sponsorships from atypical brands, which is BIG. Mile getting Maserati on board for KinnPorsche is part of what allowed it to exist in an elevated form.

I also think the success is going to result in a shake-up with the quality of writers they hire, because that's at the core of a lot of issues in BL. They adapt these novels from these absolutely unhinged lunatics, these lunatics have WAY too much creative power despite the fact they're low brow porn writers, and it kills the quality of a finished product. America doesn't do that. Directors have the power to elevate material, and that's important. GMMTV got a proper writer for Only Friends, and it paid off in a big way. Mame is one of the names I hate in BL the most. Her goo-goo gaga shit is creepy, I hate it, it makes queer people look bad, and I'm hoping writers like Jojo just drive her out of the scene.

Anyways, I'm going to end things here. I just wanted to share some random thoughts I had.

[class1akids]

I understand some of the complaints you bring up, but also I feel like… some side characters are just that - side characters.

Saving their personal villains wasn’t going to be much of a group effort. They are ‘personal’ after all, and Shigaraki/Toga/Dabi aren’t Overhaul. Again, for example, Iida did virtually nothing during Shouto’s fight with Dabi.

I am pretty sure that the way they’re being treated in the fight correlates with the idea that they’re trying to kill Shigaraki, which is the approach that isn’t going to work. The narrative is basically punishing them. That’s the reason why they aren’t being treated respectfully.

I think everyone becoming the greatest heroes is going to have more to do with everyone’s group effort in fighting AFO rather than the villain trio to be honest.

Maybe I am just weird and don’t really understand this muscle and ‘who contributed to the fight more?’ contest 😅

Doing nothing =/= being disrespected as characters. Iida didn't get the kind of beating and humiliation Bakugou got for example and he's really not "side character".

I don't think you get where I'm coming from because your focus is the Villain Trio and them getting saved and the hero characters for you are a vehicle for that.

I personally care a lot about the hero side kids, and I wanted to see their personal journeys come to a satisfactory, organic conclusion and their growth to count and mean something. Instead, we had been bogged down in this demeaning and meaningless fight for ages.

I think it's also just the fact that I really don't vibe the Deku-Tomura relationship that much. It feels extremely hollow to me, because the whole thing is based on aesthetic parallels and Deku once having a cheat-vision of the "crying boy" rather than him having to organically grow, think about and get to know "his" villain as a person, uncover his life and suffering and dig deep into society or even his own concept / adoration of heroes / All Might. All the emotional heavy lifting is replaced by a cute "them as kids" panel.

If you see the disrespect here as a punishment for the characters trying to kill Shigaraki - well, then I guess I also dislike the double standard. Why didn't Deku get the same in the war? He literally yelled "I'll never forgive you" and then kept beating Shigaraki up trying to "end it all". Yet, when Deku gets check-mated because of his own uncontrolled rage, throwing away Bakugou's sacrifice, his ass is immediately saved by the vestiges, who swear fealty to him and he gets a vision to make him understand Shigaraki.

I viscerally dislike these kind of MCs - who are somehow given an unearned monopoly on intrinsic goodness, who never struggle with the dark side - and I guess I resent that nothing and nobody can move forward until Deku "sets the shining path".

Like to me, Shouto's relationship to Dabi feels way more organic. Him waking up in the hospital thinking "he is me" felt well-established and earned. But then his character must backtrack, his big win and power-up is immediately invalidated - because even though all his actions screamed that he wanted to save Touya, it couldn't get a pay-off, until Deku gets there FIRST.

I feel like both Shouto and Ochako have been in this limbo, where they obligatorily have to flip-flop, because until Deku says he wants to save Tomura, nobody will be allowed to do anything meaningful. So yeah, I am salty about it, because it fucked up Shouto's arc since the Dabi reveal, and it fucked up Katsuki's arc, who has been for ages only allowed to exist to prop up Deku's character, while his own plot, dreams, aspirations, friendships have been cast away. And they are the people I care about most, and it's really really unsatisfying to watch it unfold, and what we get in exchange -> this Jesus-Deku saving "little crying vision Tenko" is just not that satisfying to me, personally.

Like, don't get me wrong. I want him saved, and I think he will be saved, but the journey so far to me was not exactly compelling.

Anyways. I'm sad about a lot of wasted potential and I am truly worried where all this goes and whether the characters I care about will get their (long overdue) great moments.

[siriuslysatorusimping]

call me boring if you want

But sometimes I feel like fic writers need to focus on one or two forms of conflict instead of piling them on like a kid filling their plate at a church potluck (i made myself giggle with this analogy)

Because it gets really emotionally exhausting as a reader to have so many tropes overlapping for the sake of added tension or conflict. It also doesn't help when the decisions characters make are clearly just to keep the conflict going instead of driving an actual plot.

Yesterday, I read a fic that was very long(200k words, almost 10k words per chapter), but the conflict never fucking stopped. The fic ended with no resolution, and I was left feeling empty and like my time was wasted because the way it ended was clearly just an attempt to get people to read their sequel. There was no character development, no resolution of any kind, only conflict and angst.

Characters kept making the exact same mistakes with no acknowledgment of why their lives were going to shit. On top of that, near the end, they started making choices that went against everything they were just so the conflict could continue into the sequel. I get that some fics want to emphasize the lack of growth, but when you have that much content with no development or growth with no good reason beyond to drive conflict? It feels very empty and repetitive.

And cliffhangers for the sake of trying to force people to read the next part feel bleh to me. The purpose of a cliffhanger as a plot device is to build suspense, but they're often used to try to keep people hooked in the absence of meaningful content. (you see this in modern tv a lot.)

The best kind of story is the one that ends with a satisfying conclusion while still leaving the audience wanting more.

Again, JK Rowling did such an excellent job with the Deathly Hallows epilogue. Because it was perfect. We still wanted more from that universe, but she ended it on such a peaceful and comforting note: "All was well."

No writer is perfect. Not everything someone writes will be flawless (I'm looking at you, Cursed Child. What an apt name, too. Because that shit was cursed.).

But yeah. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk 🙃🙃🙃

Some people have asked for writing advice in the past, so would you guys be interested if I occasionally posted lil advice pieces or breakdowns of examples? I think it could be something fun for me to take a break from the constant writing 🤔

[ignitesthestxrs]

I may have missed it but did you watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix? What were your thoughts on it?

i watched the first season! i think i have spoken about it on here before but i didn't tag it because i wasn't very nice, and i didn't want to like, spring that on the greater fandom tag lol

uh overall i think that the show flattened a lot of the things that i enjoyed about the books, and did not improve on anything i disliked from them.

the way the show engaged with race was deeply performative and one dimensional, like, jump-scaring the viewer with ISN'T THIS RACISM SO BAD AND AWFUL in a way that seemed intended to induce the viewer and the show itself to feel good about having noticed that they just got punched in the face.

like right before six of crows came out, i did Representation Math to figure out who was going to die lol and i was Correct and that's the kind of ethos that the show persisted with. coupled with the vibe from the books that has been increasingly sinophobic, i just uuuh Didn't Like It, it left a bad taste.

(obvs i am White and it is not my job to claim Good or Bad Job overall, or assign myself Progressive Points for having this take, but it is the way it hit me at the time of watching and after discussing with friends who are better positioned than i am to comment)

the casting of nina really bothered me, and bardugo's open support of it, while i get that it was probably a sensible choice for her, REALLY bothered me. like if you're going to create characters based on which Diversity Niche they fill, then it's incumbant on you as a creator to hold firm to that vision and use your power and your voice to push back on attempts to uuuuh hollywoodify fatness. like it was just a fundamental betrayal that...sure, i get, that's hollywood, but also this character was explicitly created as a balm to the hollywoodification of fatness, and the response to her casting was basically 'well so long as she's plus size that's what is important'. idk like this is not the fault of the actress at all, but it is: tiresome. the actress is not Fat.

also her costuming was terrible in a very un-nina way that felt like it was trying to disguise how unfat she really was/frumpify her

but aside from That Stuff, i also think that the show misunderstood the fundamental point of two of the core Alina relationships in a way that was deeply boring and in fact more of a problem in the case of the darkling in particular.

like a thing that the books does really well actually is the arc of mal and alina's relationship? in which they start off with a fundamental misunderstanding of what they mean to each other that results in them growing further apart to the point where they both have to change who they are as people to actually fit together properly again. it's a really good example of like, puppy love not working out because values and life circumstances change, but then character growth enables the characters to come together as new people with a different perspective.

because the show starts mal off in his Clear Devotion phase, it makes a lot of the potential growth in that relationship way less meaningful? lol i know a lot of people don't like book malina and...whatever to that, frankly, but from a Craft Perspective, they gave this man his character from the Third Book without giving him any of the Growth Triggers that got him to that point. i only care about I Am Become A Blade mal because he had to fight to get to that point.

re: the darkling on the show lol the show has this weird ethos that their relationship is somehow more ethical if the darkling is Really No For Real In Love With Her from the beginning, which is just SO off base with what the actual problem is with that relationship. the show tries to girl bossify Alina by have her take the darkling off guard/having him experience Real Emotions For Her without considering the fact that this just means that,,,someone who loves her is using her? that's not better! she doesn't have More Power in this relationship because she's shown to be more proactive in the romance side of their relationship, because he's still using her! she hasn't won something from him by making him experience an emotion or desire, she's just wound herself deeper into his web - but the show presents these moments as though she has gained some kind of control over a situation that she literally cannot have control over.

like the whole point of the relationship in that first book is that alina is being groomed, but instead of showing that, the show said 'oh grooming is bad, alina should have more agency!' and shot a situation where she literally cannot have agency because vital information is being kept from her, as a 'yas queen make him obsessed with you!' kind of situation. he's already obsessed with her! because she's a tool to him! it's not agency to make a man want you when he is already using you for his own purposes, it's being groomed!

i need shows that are engaging in depicting problematic relationships to fucking lean into that rather than wriggle out of it. because when they try to wriggle out of it, they always, always end up depicting something that's still fucked up, only now the narrative doesn't seem to be aware of its fucked upness.

anyway uuuuh those are my main thoughts on show, i did not watch the second season and probably never will lol

[needle-noggins]

i saw what you said about wolfwood fix-it fics so what do you think would be an actually good resurrection/reincarnation fix-it? /gen do you have examples/recs? i’ve definitely read some that are kinda like. ok yay he’s back vash is so so happy! they’re so normal! and it just seems very out of character. but i’ve also read some really good ones too!

i’ve been brainstorming my own fix-it of sorts so i’m curious what people would like to see with that sort of trope! thanks :)

Hello!

There's one fix-it/resurrection fic that sticks out in my mind, Black is the Color, and after a recent conversation on the topic yesterday I also had Gaps of Sunlight recommended to me!

As far as general fic recommendations go, that would have to be an entire other post, lol.

So here's the thing. If you're going to have any "fix-it" fic, it needs to have consequences. The fixing needs to be difficult, and it needs to have unintended or negative consequences of some kind. If it doesn't, it's just gratuitous, and does a disservice by minimizing the impact of the thing that was "fixed". It needs to take into account the reason why the Bad Thing happened in terms of story and character development. Wolfwood's fate is integral to Vash's growth - how would Wolfwood feel knowing how much Vash had changes? What would Vash think of Wolfwood, knowing the stupid decision he made was inspired by his own sense of morality? How would he come back, and would there be lasting consequences of the manner in which he returned, or the way in which he went out?

This applies to character resurrection in stories on a whole. Hollywood is chronically ignorant of the consequences that resurrection should have to feel appropriate and meaningful, cheapening the situation and making us feel like the character's death was meaningless melodrama or just plain bad writing. Don't be Hollywood.

HOWEVER, some of the best fic advice I've received is just "do what you want forever," so! If you want to write soft fluffy fix-it vashwood, write it! There will be people who love it even if it's not serious. I just personally take silly things like this too seriously, which is a me problem, not a you problem. Please don't let my opinions weigh you down! Do what you want forever!

[anvoo]

03.05.2023 - ChatGPT with assignments, me and Cat taking some time to think, how I want to live life

I'm grateful to my friends that are around to listen and talk to me. It just feels good to know that I am not alone with my struggles and that the progress I'm making on my own mental and psyche is really meaningful and impactful. I'm proud of myself for that also; the progress I've made is amazing, and I'll continue to live by my goals, purposes, love, and care.

I tried using ChatGPT to help me with my assignments for the first time today, and it was amazing, giving me examples, explanations, and notes,... all according to my requests and wants. Needless to say, I'll definitely be using it more often as a tool to help me with things ;)

I talked to an old friend earlier today about some of my struggles and things that I'm working on, and also a bit about my situation with Cat right now. Coincidentally, she also could relate to a lot of the things I talked about, and we kind of share some similarities there. It definitely gave me perspective and allowed me to take a step back, and think things through.

Me and Cat are taking some time alone right now to think about our relationship, how it is now, and how we want it to be moving forward. I have a bad habit of wanting to rush things, and kind of touches on my want for control of the situation, and wanting things to happen exactly how I want them to. A lot of it stems from my fear of "unpredictable things", "things maybe not going how I envisioned it to go", "things that I don't want to happen", "me not being able to say or do well enough to get what I want",... And I feel like they all trace back to me wanting what I want, now now now, and hating what I don't want, and NEEDING or HAVING to get what I want. Life doesn't really work that way, and sometimes things happen that are just out of my control, and maybe sometimes I don't get exactly what I want or envisioned, and that's ok. I am the master of my own destiny, but I'm not omniscient; I don't know whether or not something is "in the end" good or bad for me. Therefore, the best I can do is to just be genuine with myself and others, and do what I believe is right, in that moment. Whether or not that decision is good or not, I'll find out when I'm killed by a giant crab at the end of my life haha.

Until then, I'm just going to try my best to be genuine and honest, trust in myself and what I believe is right, live my life, and take whatever it is that life throws at me, as a potential opportunity for growth, for something better.

Goodnight!

Goodnight!

[koko-soko]

i had too much coffee this morning, enjoy my rambling and uneducated bullshit

I feel like video games are a uniquely bad medium for telling the kinds of stories they overwhelmingly try to tell. I'm gonna talk using the language of JRPGs, but honestly, almost every game these days works the same way.

I like the story of Trails in the Sky (+SC +3rd), I think it's good. But it would also have been better told, better paced, better executed in any other medium. It's an anime story that could have been a TV show, a series of movies, a novel, a comic, a radio drama, etc. You, the player, you are not Joshua, you are not Estelle, you are not Kevin. These are their own separate characters who have their own personalities, their own stories, who make their own choices without your input. And they're really compelling, too!

But instead of letting it play out naturally and flow, it reads it to you dialogue piece by dialogue piece in large tedious bursts that would be better served with more tools than a text box and one of like seven sprite animations, only interrupted by extended periods of gameplay.

But, like, does the gameplay help the narrative? Not really. Whether it's exploration or combat or resource management, it's like getting to the end of a chapter and your book going : "Ho-ho! If you'd like to continue to the next chapter, solve these riddles three!!!" And they're not even interesting riddles--by the mechanics of the system, the only solution for every game riddle ever created is "press these buttons in this order with a certain degree of randomness thrown in for good measure".

That sucks. It's bad and it's a shame that it's the flashiest, easiest, and most profitable way to craft a game narrative.

I give Guilty Gear a lot of credit for its storytelling, not because it's particularly coherent or Earth-shattering (ilu Happy Chaos, marry me), but because they realized that what they were actually making was a movie, so they just made a movie and packaged it in with the game as a separate thing.

That said, video games are not, like, impossible to create stories with.

Take old arcade games, for example. The story of old arcade games is that you watched someone who had put a lot of time in, mastered the game, and that sparked a sense of competition and rivalry within you. Whether you won or lost, it was a meaningful moment in your story and narrative growth. You either climbed to the top or quit before you did. There's really only two ways that could go. A nearly set-in-stone narrative around your game.

Look at old MMOs, too. Final Fantasy 11 has an incredible novel-style narrative story that goes underappreciated, absolutely. But the real story was that you were plopped down in this hostile environment, made friends, learned from them, worked with them, and overcame a shared struggle. Forged bonds that hopefully never faded.

But arcade games and early MMOs were social. That's a firm advantage. But look at Pseudoregalia, the game that got me thinking about this stuff. It's a single player 3D platformer metroidvania kind of game. The narrative, uh, is bad. I don't care about it, no one cares about it, something about the sun, a princess, keys, whatever. The real story is the one where you explore this mysterious, atmospheric castle to the point where you have a perfect mental map in your mind. You overcome obstacles creatively, with several possible solutions, and figure out what you're doing as you go. Hell, the first (only?) boss is a major roadblock because the game just doesn't tell you that you have a heal button. You have to try and retry and figure it out, making your own story that's the same as everyone else's.

The game, uh, has some issues as well, mechanically. I'm at a later point in the game where it looks like the only possible solution (according to redditors and youtube clips) seems to be this jank-ass glitchy, exploit-looking parkour trick that really breaks the experience for me.

A game's story should do three things :

create a sense of wonder

provide the player with tools to interact with the world that makes them feel that way

leave the player a trail of bread crumbs from the shadows, serving as motivation (yummy breadcrumbs) while letting the player experience their own experience

[fantasma-de-la-cueva]

Translation: “Thank you for doing the correct thing even if they called you villains. You two go fuck yourselfs”

Why this meme? Because I like Pokemon, I like Harry Potter, I like Inazuma Eleven and I like Kingdom Hearts, so I wanted to show my holy trinity of “good guys doing bad things for the greater good” in contrapisition to the two kh characters that the plot will force us to think are the good guys despite doing bad things.

Grovyle had bad luck combined with poor communication kills, but knew that if he put the time gears in their place nobody was going to be hurt, he also said sorry to the lake spiritual trio and the protagonists, showing that despite his determination and stubborness he cared. Also, the way he and the proganost bond is rebuild in game is beautiful, as well as that ending of that special chapter :”)

Severus Snape had character growth despite his many, MANY faults. He’s the definition of a grey-moral character and an example that you can be a very unpleasant person and it doesn’t mean you have to be a bad guy. Also thaught us that your past doesn’t justify your present and that change of heart is possible. He was the best HP character to me because at the end he was the most loyal, but bravest man ever, so much he could fool Voldemort for all those years :”)

Gouenji Shuuya, like Snape, was loyal and brave (but unlike greassy boi he was kind of more soft with people around him xD). During Go1 played the villain and risked his life to keep the real villain away from the sport he loved. He hurted a lot of people, but behind the scenes he did everything he could to help those he could and instigate a revolution even if it meant to destroy himself in the process (either getting killed or be send to jail + having his reputation utterly destroyed), just because soccer saved him and he wanted to return the favor :”)

And while this three had a big influence in the plot of their respective stories their “big plan” didn’t involved every aspect for the other characters’ development and they react to certain things because they didn’t expected them, making them easy to empathise with once you know their intentions.

-

And then we have Luxu and the MoM. Luxu who cared at first, but with a psychothic attitude that makes me doubt he will be the traitor the MoM is expecting from him. Also, he didn’t made anything in the currently that would make me think “Oh, this guy is really doing bad things for the greater good”. Overall, I like some fanarts, but canonically seems so bland to me that I see him as an extention of the MoM and any attempt of the plot to change my mind will be see as forced and I’m not a fan of that.

The MoM is a hypocrit, lunatic, racist, genocidal, psychotic maniac that in for me ruined the saga by turning every special and meaningful moment there in a “its part of my plan” moment. I hate him due to this and I hate his extremist view and I know he’s written like that, but I have the feeling that, like with Xehanort, Nomura and the plot will force us as players to feel bad for him and to understand and forgive his actions despite the suffering he had caused, therefore getting redeemed without consequences. And I’m not a fan of psycho characters getting away with their crap. And if you justify him, remember that in the original kh trilogy was stated that darkness was a force that could be used for good and show us this with Riku, but now they will make darkness bad again (corrupting Terra, Xehanort “plot twist” motivated by darkness being evil in kh 3 when in BBS it was stated that he wanted balance and the fucking primal darknesses in khux)

[dawson2shifty]

Social Media and Participatory Culture

A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and public engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one's creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby the most experienced people pass along what they know to novices (Jenkins, 2010). This type of culture can be expressed through social media. In other words, social media is a tool that helps to push this kind of culture forward. There are many examples of this seen in social media today. For example, if you have ever been on TikTok then you will know just how easy it is to spread information on things that are relevant in culture. Depending on the season or the time of year, different styles and clothing items will become more popular and can be seen on your social media feeds. During basketball season, it is common to see other content like NBA, or sponsorships. 

For me, I participate on social media because it allows me to build my own personal brand. Being a basketball player at the University of Minnesota, I reach a larger audience. For me, I am performing user generated content (UGC). Most of the service or platforms only exist because of User Generated Content (Hinton and Hijorth, 2013). One of those is TikTok. For example, I will share a post made by my trainers, showcasing my workouts or highlighting something I may have done in a game recently. Without posting on the app, it simply would not exist. The users on the app are what make the app more intriguing for the users. When a user gets engagement, and people will like or comment on what is put out there, it motivates them to continue posting. I am motivated to post my workouts online because I work really hard, and it is rewarding to see the growth. 

I look into my friends and family on Instagram, it is there that I check stories and that I am able to keep up with what they are up to. Because Instagram is created by users, the app is very common and can be used as a source to make money or sell things. Oftentimes I will promote my friends' clothing brands. For example, one of my friends has a clothing brand called “The Look Within.” This clothing brand donates a portion of the profits to different mental health organizations. It is exciting to see other people engage with the clothing brand because spreading the information on this brand actually helps people. It helps people in a physical way monetarily, but also in an emotional way by spreading awareness and creating conversation around the topic. This is a form of collective intelligence, which is the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others towards a common goal (Jenkins, Puroshotma Clinton. Weigel, & Robison, 2009). 

I choose to engage on social media in meaningful ways because I have a larger platform and because I am able to have influence. I like to support brands that have a good cause and that spend the time to help others. Occasionally I will shout out a friend or a teammate to encourage or uplift them. It is exciting to see someone I care about accomplish something, and social media is a tool that can be used to share exciting news to a large number of people.  

[spockandawe]

Well, this is interesting! So, in that post yesterday, there was one line that really baffled me, a thing about people brushing off a character as an asshole “because he shows literally zero growth.” I kind of set that aside because it was such a weird non-sequitur, and guessed that it was just someone’s sentences not quite keeping up with their train of thought, which has happened to me many times. Apparently I was wrong! I already spent long enough on that one post, I’m tired of talking about that, but this is new and interesting. 

Okay. I kind of wanted to see if I could talk about this purely in terms of abstracts and not characters, but I don’t think it’ll work. It would be frustrating to write and confusing to read. It’s about Jiang Cheng. Right up front: This isn’t about whether or not he’s an abuser. Frankly, I don’t think it’s relevant. This also isn’t about telling people they should like him. I don't care whether anyone else likes him or not. But I do like him, and I am always fascinated by dissecting the reasons that people disagree with me. And the process of Telling Stories is my oldest hyperfixation I remember, which will become relevant in a minute.

I thought I had a good grasp on this one, you know? Jiang Cheng makes it pretty obvious why people would dislike Jiang Cheng. But then the posts I keep stumbling over were making weird points, culminating in that “literally zero growth” line.

So! What happened is that someone wrote up a post about how Jiang Cheng’s character arc isn’t an arc, it’s stagnation. It’s a pretty interesting read, and I broadly agree with the larger point! The points where I would quibble are like... the idea that it’s absolute stagnation, as opposed to very subtle shifts that still make a material difference. But still, cool! The post was also offered up as a reason why OP was uninterested in writing any more Jiang Cheng meta, which I totally get. I’m not tired of him yet, but I definitely understand why someone who isn’t a fan of his would get tired about writing about a character with a very static arc. Okay!

Now, internet forensics are hard. I desperately wish I had more information about this evolution, because I find this stuff fascinating, but I have no good way to find things said in untagged posts, reblogs, or private/external venues. But as far as I can tell, that “literally zero growth” wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, it’s become fashionable for people to say that Jiang Cheng is an abusive asshole (that it’s fucked up to like) because he doesn’t have a character arc.

Asshole? Yes. Abusive? This post still isn’t about that. This is about it being fucked up to like this character because he did bad things and had a static character arc.

At first, that point of view was still deeply confusing to me. But I think I figured out the idea at the core of it, and now I’m only baffled. I’m not super interested in confirming this directly, because the people making the most noise about this have not inspired confidence in their ability to hold a civil conversation and I’m a socially anxious binch, but I think the idea is: ‘This character did Bad Things, and then did not improve himself.’

Which is alarmingly adjacent to that old favorite standard of ‘This piece of fiction is glorifying Bad Thing.’ I haven’t seen anyone accusing mxtx of something something jiang cheng, only the people who read/watched/heard the story and became invested in the Jiang Cheng character, but things kind of add up, you know?

Like I said, I don’t want to arbitrate anyone’s right to like/dislike Jiang Cheng. That’s such a fucking waste of time. But this is fascinating to me, because it’s like..... so obviously new and sudden, with such a clear originating point. I can’t speak to the Chinese fans, obviously, but exiledrebels started translating in... what, 2017? And only now, in 2021, do people start putting forth Jiang Cheng’s flat character arc as a “reason” that he’s bad? I’m not going to argue if he pings you in the abuse place, I’m not a dick. I’m not going to argue if you just dislike his vibes. I’m just over here on my blog and in the tag enjoying myself, feel free to detour around me. But oh my god, it’s so silly to try to tell other people that they shouldn’t like him because he has a static character arc.

I want to talk about stories. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to say, because it’s impossible to make broad, sweeping statements, because there are stories about change, there are stories about lack of change, there are all kinds of media that can be used to tell stories, and standards for how stories are told and what they emphasize vary across cultures and over time. But I think that what I can say is that telling a story requires... compromise. It requires streamlining. Trying to capture all the detail of life would slow down most stories to an unbearable degree. Consider organically telling someone ‘I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich’ versus the computer science exercise of having students describe, step by step, how to make one (spread peanut butter? but you never said you opened the lid)

Hell, I’ve got an example in mdzs itself. The largely-faceless masses of the common people. If someone asks you to think about it critically like, yes, obviously these are people, living their own lives, with their own desires, sometimes suffering and dying in the wake of the novel plot. But does the story give weight to those deaths? Or does it just gloss by? Yes, it references their suffering occasionally, but it is not the focus, and it would slow the story unbearably to give equal weight to each dead person mentioned. 

Does Wei Wuxian’s massacre get given the same slow, careful consideration as Su She’s, or Jin Guangyao’s? No, because taking the time to weigh our protagonist with ‘well, this one was a mother, and her youngest son had just started walking, but now he’s going to grow up without remembering her face. that one only became an adult a few months ago, he still hasn’t been on many night-hunts yet, but he finds it so rewarding to protect the common people. oh, and this one had just gotten engaged, but don’t worry, his fiancee won’t mourn him, because she died here as well.’ And continuing on that way to some large number under 3000? No! Unless your goal is to make the reader feel bad for cheering for a morally grey hero, that would be a bad authorial decision! The book doesn’t ignore the issue, it comes up, Wei Wuxian gets called out about all the deaths he’s responsible for, but that’s not the same as them being given equal emotional weight to one (1) secondary character, and I don’t love this new thing where people are pretending that’s equivalent.

When Wei Wuxian brutally kills every person at the Wen supervisory office, are you like ‘holy shit... so many grieving families D:’ or are you somewhere between vindicated satisfaction and an ‘ooh, yikes’ wince? Odds are good you’re somewhere in the satisfaction/wince camp, because that’s what the story sets you up to feel, because the story has to emphasize its priorities (priorities vary, but ‘plot’ and ‘protagonist’ are common ones, especially for a casual novel read like this)

Now, characters. If you want to write a story with a sweeping, epic scale, or if you want to tightly constrain the number of people your story is about, I guess it’s possible to give everyone involved a meaningful character arc. Now.... is it always necessary? Is it always possible? Does it always make sense? No, of course not. If you want to do that, you have to devote real estate to it, and depending on the story you want to tell, it could very possibly be a distraction from your main point, like the idea of mxtx tenderly eulogizing every single character who dies even incidentally. Lan Qiren doesn’t get a loving examination of his feelings re: his nephews and wei wuxian and political turnover in the cultivation world because it’s not relevant, and also, because his position is pretty static until right near the end of the story. Lan Xichen is arguably one of the most static characters within the book, he seems like the same nice young between Gusu and the present, right up until... just before the end of the story.

You may see where I’m heading with this.

Like, just imagine trying to demand that every important character needs to go through a major life change before the end of your book or else it didn’t count. This just in, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg go through multiple novels without experiencing radical shifts in who they are, stop liking them immediately. I do get that the idea is that Jiang Cheng was a ~bad person~ who didn’t change, but asdgfsd I thought we were over the handwringing over people being allowed to like ““bad”” fictional characters. The man isn’t even a canonical serial killer, he’s not my most problematic fave even within this novel.

And here is where it’s a little more relevant that I would quibble with that original post about Jiang Cheng’s arc. He’s consistently a mean girl, but he goes from stressed, sharp-edged teenager, to grief-stricken, almost-destroyed teen, to grim, cold young adult (and then detours into grim, cold, and grief-stricken until grief dulls with time). He does become an attentive uncle tho. He..... doesn’t experience a radical change in his sense of self, which... it’s...... not all that strange for an adult. And bam, then he DOES experience a radical change, but the needs of the plot dictate that it’s right near the end. And he’s not the focus of the story, baby, wangxian is. He has the last few lines of the story, which nicely communicate his changes to me, but also asdfafas we’re out of story. He was never the main character, it’s not surprising we don’t linger! The extras aren’t beholden to the needs of plot, but they’re also about whatever mxtx wanted to write, and I guess she didn’t feel like writing about Jiang Cheng ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But also. Taking a step backward. Stable characters can fill a perfectly logical place in a story. Like, look at Leia Organa. I’m not saying she has no arc, but I am saying that she’s a solid point of reference as Luke is becoming a jedi and Han is adjusting his perspective. I wouldn’t call her stagnant, the vibes are wrong, but she also isn’t miserable in her sadness swamp, the way Jiang Cheng is.

Or, hell, look at tgcf. The stagnant, frozen nature of the big bad is a central feature of the story. The bwx of now is the bwx of 800 years ago is the bwx of 1500+ years ago. This is not the place for a meta on how that was bad for those around him and for him himself, but I have Thoughts about how being defeated at the end is both a thing that hurts him and relieves him. Mei Nianqing is a sympathetic character who’s also pretty darn static. Does Ling Wen have a character arc, or do we just learn more about who she already is and what her priorities always were? I’m going to cut myself off here, but a character’s delta between the beginning of a story and the end of a story is a reasonable way to judge how interesting writing character meta is, and is a very silly metric to judge their worth, and even if I guessed at what the basic logic is, for this character, I am still baffled that it’s being put forth as a real talking point.

(also, has it jumped ship to any other characters yet? have people started applying it in other fandoms as well? please let me know if this is the case, I am wildly curious)

(no, but really, if anyone is arguing that bwx is gross specifically because he had centuries to self-reflect and didn’t fix himself, i am desperate to know)

And finally. The thing I thought was most self-evident. Did I post about this sometime recently? If a non-central character experiences a life-altering paradigm shift right near the end of the story (without it being lingered over, because non-central character), oh my god. As a fic writer? IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE. This is the most fertile possible ground. If I want to write post-canon canon-compliant material, adsgasfasd that’s where I’m going to be looking. Okay, yeah, the main couple is happy, that’s good. Who isn’t happy, and what can I do about that? Happy families are all alike, while every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, etc.

It’s not everyone’s favorite playground, but come on, these are not uncommon feelings. And frankly, it’s starting to feel a little disingenuous when people act like fan authors pick out the most blameless angel from the cast and lavish good things upon them. I’m not the only one who goes looking for a good dumpster fire and says I Live Here Now. If I write post-canon tgcf fic, it’s very likely to focus on beef and/or leaf. I have written more than one au focusing on tianlang-jun.

And, hilariously. If the problem with Jiang Cheng. Is that he is a toxic man fictional character who failed to grow on his own, and is either unsafe or unhealthy to be around. If the problem is that he did not experience a character arc. If these people would be totally fine with other people liking him, if he improved himself as a person. And then, if authors want to put in the (free! time-consuming!) work of writing that character development themselves. You would think that they would be lauded for putting the character through healthier sorts of personal growth than he experienced in canon. Instead, I am still here writing this because first, I was bothered by these authors being named as “freaks” who are obsessed with their ‘uwu precious tsundere baby’ with a “love language of violence,” and then I was graciously informed that people hate Jiang Cheng because he experiences no character growth.

[a-friendly-fangirl]

My thoughts on Sex Education, season 3.

⚠️⚠️⚠️SPOILERS⚠️⚠️⚠️

First of all, please try to remember that this is just my opinion. I'm nobody to judge whether the season was good or bad and I don't mean to hurt anyone.

With that being said, I'd like to begin by admitting that I liked these 8 episodes overall... but there were so many things that felt wrong to me.

I loved Jean's journey during her pregnancy and the way she tried to take care of everyone at the same time (although I kind of disliked Jakob for some things he said).

I loved Aimee and her desire to heal after the assault. The way she really wants to make her voice be heard was heartwarming and inspiring to me. Plus, her friendship with Maeve is one of the most beautiful I've ever watched (about this, I'll say something later on).

I loved Viv and her ambition that slowly became less important than her peers and their rights. She really wanted them to be happy in the end. I think that she didn't really understand how bad things with Hope were until the trip to France. And she redeemed herself in a great way.

I loved Lily and her journey towards acceptance of herself, even when others thought she was weird and silly. It was empowering seeing her so confident in the end.

I loved Adam's growth. It taught that even the most simple of passions can turn into something meaningful and that, no matter how bad you are, you can change.

Above all, I loved Maeve finally getting the chance to do something amazing for herself for once.

All of these things were wonderful, truly. But so many others I didn't like and I couldn't really understand as narrative choices.

Let me begin with the one I found the most annoying: Isaac's fake redemption arc. I know what you might say: "Of course you hate it! You ship Maeve and Otis!". Well, yes, I do. But it's not all about that. I might be exaggerating... but Isaac deleting Otis' message was beyond disrespectful to me. If you remember, at the beginning of the second season, Isaac was really mean to Maeve... but he had the opportunity to redeem himself. He had the chance to say he was sorry and to be a better person to her, even though he had been around for so little time. However, when it came to Otis to have the same opportunity, he decided that he wasn't worth it. Isaac, who didn't really know Otis, took away from him the chance to at least say that he was truly sorry for being such an ass to Maeve. But, what feels even worse to me is that he took away even Maeve's possibility to decide. We don't know how it would have gone, if Maeve had listen to what Otis had to say. Maybe she would have forgiven him. Maybe she would have still chosen Isaac, because Otis hurt her too much. Who knows what might have been? No one. And why? Because Isaac decided for everyone. And I don't care if he thought he was protecting Maeve or if he was angry. It. Was. Not. His. Choice. To. Make.

Also, I didn't really understand why Maeve wasn't as mad as I was with him. Sure, she stopped talking to him for a couple of days. But the moment she started to speak with him again, they hooked up. Too fast, too soon, in my opinion. He apologised? Sure. But so did Otis. And he didn't get to be so easily forgiven.

But let's move to the another point I have a lot to say about: Otis and Ruby. I really liked them together. I found them cute and funny. But still... Ruby struggled for real to accept Otis for who he is. And Otis acted the way she wanted to keep her close. For example, he shaved off his moustache for her. Now, most of the fandom hated that moustache... but again, Otis seemed to care a great deal for it. He kept repeating that he spent months growing it. But Ruby didn't like it. And he sacrificed something he was proud of for her. But okay, a lot of people would do something like that for their loved ones. But then he had to dress like her friends to fit in. To be fair, Ruby gave up that idea pretty soon... but she just reacted to Otis refusing to do it. If I had to make a comparison between her and another love interest (not Maeve, 'cause I'd be biased), I'd choose Ola, of course. She was putting pressure on him in other ways, but she never wanted him to be any different than who he was. Love, after all, means acceptance. And perhaps Ruby loved Otis for he saw the hardest part of her life, without judging her. I wish it could have been the same for him.

About this, I've noticed many people being disappointed in Otis not saying he loved her too, because it means that he was just using her. Well... no? I mean, he was the first one to admit that, if she was willing to give him more time, he might have learned to love her. Should he have made it clear to her earlier in the relationship? Sure! Can we condemn him for not feeling the same? Absolutely not! Feelings can't be forced. And I'm also sure that he thought he was done for good with Maeve. He suffocated the love he had for her so much that the clinic made him sick and that he admitted his feelings only when pressured by Maeve herself.

In conclusion, I think that Otis and Ruby might have had a wonderful friendship, if they were only given the chance. They have that kind of chemistry.

Talking about people who are better off as friends: in my opinion, that's all Maeve and Aimee will ever be. I honestly can't see anything romantic in them. The purity of their friendship means so much to me and it's, at least for me, so different from the "Friends who are more than friends" energy. We're so lucky to have such wonderful actresses to play these characters... and what I see in their gestures and glances tells me of a great friendship. They're so different from Emily and Sue in Dickinson (they're supposed to be just friends, but they're clearly not) or even Judy and Jen in Dead To Me (another pair of friends that can be ambiguous with each other).

Moving to another couple, whose development I didn't understand: Adam and Eric. I'm not a great fan of their relationship. I like them both as individuals. But the bully-victim dynamic they used to have wasn't the best one to start a relationship with. I could see the appeal though. So much that, I was truly happy for them, when they said their first I love you's. And every step Adam made in the right direction made me smile, since that it took him a long time to grow up. Eric seemed happy with him too. Until he went to Nigeria. I sincerely loved the whole trip... but something felt wrong in him founding what he truly wanted there, where he couldn't even tell his family he had a boyfriend. The scene in the taxi gave me chills. I felt the risk he was taking by going with a stranger to a gay club. A stranger that he kissed almost out of nowhere (whether it was the heat of the moment or Adam not replying to him, I'm not sure). It's the second time he cheats on his boyfriend. And I think Eric deserves far better as a character.

My question about this whole drama is: "How come Eric found out that he wanted to be free in Nigeria and not in England?". If it's true that going to the club made him realise he wanted to be among people like him, it makes the whole situation even more absurd. Because there are plenty of gay bars and clubs in England. Why not go to one of them? My theory is that they wanted to build a good romance with Adam, then build tension between them and in us and end the whole thing with their breakup (probably to make Adam fall in love with Rahim).

I swear I'm almost done. I want to discuss one last topic with you all.

Maeve going to America like that felt so rushed. It's probably another strategy to make us want to see more of the show. And it surely worked. But still, it has, at least for how they developed it, nothing to do with Maeve maturing. The idea itself was amazing. I loved her getting the opportunity of a lifetime. But she literally decides to go the evening before (which is not even realistic. In real life, you have a deadline until which you can pay to go wherever you want. If you don't, your place is given to someone else), after getting the money from her mother. Now, where does that money come from? She might as well have stolen it, since she didn't have it before. In my opinion, this part of the story could have gone differently with little effort and the same outcome. How? Well, since that basically everyone thought she deserved to go to America, why couldn't have her classmates and teachers organised a fundraiser? Even in secret, so that she couldn't get angry for their "charity". It would have been so much better and so wholesome to see everyone in that school give a little sum for her, even to thank her for the help they got from the clinic.

Anyway, I'm so sorry for talking so much, but this season didn't go as expected and I truly needed to vent :P.

Thank you for listening❤

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 79 Review

i said i would and i will. i did like this issue! not as striking and attention grabbing as 78, but i think this issue was meant to be a foundation one, laying out the groundwork for the future. overall, pretty good. also there wasn't enough bitewing. as promised, overly extensive metaphors and me reading too much into things under the cut

i know i've talked about this cover before, but this particular thing is oddly important to me, so i'll talk about it again

this is me, once again screaming about how artists put nightwing in traditionally feminine poses and how every time i see it i just get whiplash. i mean, true, the main reason why is because nightwing is a so often sexualized character, and putting him in these poses just increases the objectification, which is a goal that dc producers have. but there are very few popular male characters that do this. the only one i can think of off the top of my head is deadpool, but that was so obviously a critique and a way to make fun of the media industry. when they draw dick like this, they’re being serious. they’re putting him in appealing poses meant to show him off, and that’s something that’s traditionally only been done to women.

it's a very direct and very loud breaking of traditional gender roles in media, especially for a character as high-profile and historic as dick grayson. colour also plays a factor in this. the entire background is pink. i was absolutely shocked when i first saw it, when the teaser came out, because i cannot think of any comic book covers of male comic heroes this high-profile where pink is even just prevalent in the cover, let alone the majority of the cover. the pink does look beautiful: it offsets and highlights the black and blue of dick's suit gorgeously, but does it with more finesse than orange or red. but the fact that the stylistic choice was made to accent and draw this cover with aesthetic and beauty in mind, completely ignoring traditional hard-set gender rules in art, was a conscious choice and one i wholeheartedly support.

just another example of the sexualization i was talking about. i remember seeing harley quinn in this exact pose in suicide squad.

so far, taylor's been pretty dead-set on bringing alfred to the forefront of importance in this series. he wants people to know how much he loves alfred's character, and how much the butler meant to dick growing up. he was dick's father too. but what i adore is how taylor managed to stress alfred's importance in a way that didn't insult or belittle bruce.

this is one of the best bruce and dick interactions i've seen, and it's done in one simple interaction. in this, bruce is tough and harsh. he knocked dick down hard, but then he reached a hand down and helped pull dick back up. let me analyze their dialogue for a minute

on your feet: this is bruce telling dick to get up. he's trained dick, he knows what the younger boy is capable of, he knows his limits, and he knows what dick can do. this is bruce telling dick i know you're strong enough to get up, so get up and prove me right

are you just going to knock me down again?: surface-level, it looks like dick's complaining. he doesn't like bruce's rough training, and he's tired of bruce knocking him down. but look at his face in this. he's smiling up at bruce, knowledgeable and a little hopeful. he knows that bruce is doing this to help dick better himself, he's completely on board with the rough training, because they both know the rewards are incredible. also, he's teasing. he's bantering with bruce. there's an ease in that joking statement, one that belies affection and intimacy. they've only known each other for a little bit, but they're already slipping into a close familial relationship.

it depends on how fast you learn: this is bruce bantering back. this is bruce not being a stoic, unfeeling asshole. instead, he's shown with the dry humor that a good batman writer knows is a staple of the character. he's teasing dick, telling him he'll basically whoop his ass if dick doesn't learn fast enough. it's incentive for dick to train harder, while also being lighthearted enough to tell dick that believes in dick and doesn't want him to push himself too hard.

gosh i love the titans. also it looks like wally's staring at dick's ass.

this was cute. a prod at dick's silly and playful sense of humor, while not dumbing him down for the sake of a laugh. instead, he's joking about food, which is stuff everyone jokes about. this is the kind of stuff that'll actually make me laugh, instead of just making me vaguely uncomfortable.

bludhaven's almost always portrayed as a cesspool of a city. and to be honest, it really is. but this panel gives the city a meaningful history, while also giving us a reason for why dick moved there.

it talks of a time when people still thought they could beat the monsters. that if they fought hard enough, they could win the fight. it was a tentative hope that you could always overcome hardship.

dick's little "i like that it's still standing" shows how he still believes that, despite what the rest of the world thinks. despite everything that he's been through, dick is still tentatively an optimist, and believes he can fight the monsters of the world and win. it's a beautiful testament to his character, and i'm like that they added his signature element of hope back in. it used to be what he symbolized as robin, and despite his growth and character arc from robin to nightwing, this is one aspect of robin that i'm glad nightwing still has.

remember when i said "things that make me vaguely uncomfortable??" yeahhhh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Shooketh Dick: A Sequel

(the expressions in this series are just,,,,on point)

this was an incredibly sweet and kindhearted thing for dick to do, but i found it kind of,,,,,,,,desperate? maybe that's just me, but let me explain.

dick's suddenly a billionaire, and he has entirely too much money that he knows what to do with. it's also alfred's money, what the man left to him, so dick forever links it with alfred. in addition to that, he's back and bludhaven and looking at it with "fresh" eyes. (at least, from a different point of view since he got shot in the head. then mind controlled.) he's desperate to do something with the money and he's desperate to help the people around him that so obviously needs up, so he comes up with an on-the-fly solution that's a little impractical and a little crazy, but it still helps and still does some good.

to me, dick seems a little lost. he hasn't completely found his balance yet, and he's trying to do things that will. he tries charity, because that's what bruce did and it's what he knows, even though he admitted that he always thought bruce could have done more as bruce wayne than batman.

they have a family group chat guys yall were right.

also, do i think that dick would ever actually get his wallet stolen?? no way in hell, he’d notice someone getting ready to pickpocket him a mile away. but i suppose it’s important to the Plot. 

okay this is getting interesting. first blockbuster, now maroni (+ the weird heart stealer guy). i can officially say that i am intruiged

this particular artistic quirk is shown a lot in this issue, and from this art team in general, but i feel like this panel is one of the best examples of it. it was stunning enough to take up a full page, and it’s well deserved.

the way they show dick moving is absolutely brilliant. as a reader, i like seeing these smaller versions of dick getting clearer and in more detail as they come closer to the screen. not only do they show depth in the picture beyond what a simple 3 dimensional piece of art does, it also shows the passage of time.

in addition, it showcases dick’s skill. dick spots these mobsters running after a group of petty thieves. he then, and follow me here, leaps off the roof of one building feet first, springboards backwards off the side of the adjacent building with his feet, gracefully continues his backflip, rights himself, shoots a line with perfect timing: just in time to soften his landing but not slow him down, execute said landing on top of a moving bus, keep running on the moving bus without missing a beat, shoot his grapple, use the grapple to swing, use the swing to build up momentum, then use the momentum to deliver a powerful blow to the mobsters. and he did all that fast enough to catch up with the mobsters, even though he was a ROOFTOP OVER. 

d a m n  s o n

this panel, the very first in the issue, is also another example of that art style, but a little more distinctive. i love the way they showed dick’s different costumes through the ages, along with him simply growing up. it’s a little heartbreaking, but a lot uplifting to see how far he’s come. thank god he got rid of the red. now all we need is the fingerstripes, and we’ll be golden

discowing my beloved. also i can’t clearly see discowing’s hair but it definitely looks like it’s pulled back. it looks like he put it in a ponytail. guys. guys. dick had a ponytail omg. 

he’s having a Hero Moment

are you talking about the city, dick, or are you talking about you? the kgbeast, the court, the joker. dick fell to each one of them, no matter how hard he fought. he won in the end, eventually and with his family’s help. but i think he’s feeling a little low, a little defeated right now. it’s almost like he needs a win, he needs to feel victorious, he needs to feel like he helped someone (hence the food and the hotel room), just because he needs to remember what it feels like.

these lines were supposed to resonate with you, and goddamn they did.

i looked at it from two ways. first, it’s the girl asking, begging nightwing not to hurt them. bludhaven doesn’t know dick the way gotham does, they’re still a little frightened of him. this child was brave enough to step in front of all of the other hurt and homeless kids and ask, to a strange man in a mask, if he was going to hurt them like the other men had. it’s heartbreaking, but commendable, and an echo of the city itself that dick’s decided to protect. they’re bloody and broken and terrified, but still gritty and brave enough to stare what they fear in the eye and ask it not to hurt them.

second, it’s dick seeing the question reflected in himself. recently, he got shot in the head and lost all his memories. while i think that the way ric reacted was a perfectly valid and human response to the situation, i think dick still regrets how callously and rudely he treated his family. then, he was manipulated by the court of owls, then he was brainwashed with a magic crystal by the joker. dick does have a guilt complex. it’s not a big as bruce’s, but it’s there. and right now, with this girl begging her not to hurt them, dick is probably thinking about all the times he hurt people, in control of his own actions or not, bc he “didn’t have a heart.” 

little ambitious don’t you think, dick?

also just look at the sunset colours loOK at the they could not make this any more obvious oh my godddddddddddddddddddddddd

in conclusion, i need more of her

[backslashdelta]

What do you like about Puck?

ALRIGHT JAS LET'S DO THIS

First, I just want to say... I always feel a bit nervous talking about how much I like Puck's character. A lot of people don't like him because of who he is portrayed by (which is understandable), and a lot of people don't like him because he has done some pretty questionable/problematic things in canon (also understandable). I'm not trying to say that people are wrong to dislike him; he's a fictional character, everybody is allowed to like who they like and dislike who they dislike. But I'm also not interested in arguing with anybody about why I shouldn't like him.

Now, on to the things I like about Noah Puckerman!

The first thing is easy; dude's got a great voice. I'm a sucker for a nice voice, so... that definitely doesn't hurt.

I think he shows a lot of character growth throughout the series. When we first meet him, he's this popular jock tossing other kids into dumpsters. By the end of the show (and long before that, really), he's not that person anymore. My Noah Puckerman is the guy who has no issue dressing in drag for Glee club without even being asked because he doesn't care what other people think, he just wants to help his friends.

He genuinely tries to be a good dad. Does he go about it in the best way all the time? No, definitely not. But he's still a kid, so I don't expect him to. He tries to step up and be like the father he never had, and I really respect him for that, especially because he really didn't know what he was doing but tried anyway.

I really like his storyline with Lauren. It's not perfect (nothing in Glee is), but I love that he's so clearly into her and that he's not ashamed of that. As someone who is also fat, I relate to her in a lot of ways, and seeing how obvious and direct he is in expressing his feelings for her is really meaningful and impactful for me.

I love the prom moments with Becky (unfortunately not me, but I wish). I think Puck is a really kind person, and this is a really good example of that.

I'll be honest in that I don't know very much about Judaism (or religion in general), but I have heard people say that he is, in general, a good example of a Jewish character, so I think that's good representation to have.

I think he has a lot of mental health issues that were literally never addressed in canon, and because people just don't like him, nobody thinks about that. His father left and only comes around (very rarely) when he needs something. It was played as a joke constantly that he had a thing for older women, but that's not funny. He is a kid, these women are taking advantage of him. And it wasn't a one time thing, it was frequent enough to basically be a running joke? And especially what went on with Shelby, none of that was okay. My boy deserved better. I think there have been a lot of things in his life that have probably kinda fucked him up emotionally, but nobody takes the time to notice because he's Puck, he's this tough guy who solves his problems with his fists, but I just think there's a lot more to him than that.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the things that come to mind right away. Essentially what it comes down to, though, is that I think Puck has a genuinely good heart, I think he is a genuinely kind person, and I think a lot of that is overlooked because of how he comes off on the surface.

[demonicheadcanons]

Pact Headcanons

Okay bear with me because I’m starting this post on mobile at 4am but I’m thinking about pacts.

I’ve had a headcanon for a while that, after the MC makes a pact with Beel, they start to get hungry more often, and tend to build up muscle easier. So I thought I’d go ahead and just, write random pact headcanons for each of the boys?

I have tried not to include any clear spoilers, but if you haven’t yet made a pact with a specific brother, you may want to skip over them.

Some of the information may be considered dark, as a warning.

General Headcanons

The stronger the demon, the more potent / powerful the pact.

However, pacts will also get stronger the closer you are (relationship-wise, but this can also be proximity based) to a demon. For example, if you’re very close to Mammon and not close to Lucifer, your pact with Mammon will overpower the pact with Lucifer and amplify the effects brought about by Mammon’s pact. For a demon further on down the chain you would really have to hate Lucifer and be incredibly close to the demon to overpower the pact. For Mammon you only have to be friends, and close friends with Levi, etc. You can measure how close one of the brothers considers you by examining the effects you feel from your pact with them.

If two pacts interact (e.g. Levi’s envy and Lucifer’s pride), the stronger one will win out, or it will reduce the effects of both pacts. Ergo, you could balance out the negatives of one with the positives of the other by carefully adjusting your relationships with the parties involved.

All pacts have good and bad effects. They’ll vary from person to person, depending on their personality, but with the brothers their sins are the main influence of the pacts.

Having more pacts will reduce the rate at which you age, meaning Solomon is essentially immortal. Again, having pacts with stronger demons will amplify this, so having a pact with 7 of the most powerful demons in the Devildom would heavily slow down the rate at which the MC ages. If you make a pact with Diavolo, you’ll stop aging. Who knows what would happen if you somehow made a pact with his father? ((Note: if any pact involves selling your soul, the aging process will begin again, as you presumably need to die eventually for the exchange to be made))

Pacts create a weak empathy bridge between the demon and human. It’s not perfect, and it’s easy to ignore, but if you’re feeling down then the demons you have a pact with will be aware of it. The reverse is also true.

Even without a pact, the brothers can ‘feed’ from their sins. If you feel proud, Lucifer can gain energy from that, etc. For the MC, its weak initially as the brothers’ powers don’t work on them. However, once a pact is formed, it becomes a source of energy and power for them - this can be dangerous with demons who don’t know how to control themselves, as they may amplify the negatives of their pact as it means they can feast on their sin (or, for other demons, on whatever their influence is). More responsible demons, like the brothers, know how to balance it so that they’re able to feed without harming the MC, as this means they have a more stable food source for longer, and because they won’t want to cause harm to the MC.

Let’s get to the specifics for each brother:

Lucifer

Advantages: When you make a pact with Lucifer, you immediately become more confident. His pact is the strongest of the brothers, him being the eldest and most powerful, so there’s no waiting time for the pact to take effect. Essentially you’ll find it easier to be proud of both yourself, and others. His pact interferes with Levi’s - it counteracts the jealousy that you’d feel, and replaces it with pride, as a pact with Lucifer holds more power usually. His pact also grants an easier understanding of your surroundings and the people around you - whether it’s due to the confidence boost, allowing your anxieties to relax and to let you properly take in a situation, or just part of the pact is debatable.

Disadvantages: Pride easily leads to arrogance. Strangely enough, if you were already a confident person, you’ll find it easier to control yourself and not become too arrogant. But if you were struggling before, you’re going to swing wildly between completely adoring and despising yourself. Because the pact is so potent this can be dangerous, and you might need to distance yourself from a Lucifer and slowly build up a relationship again to be able to adapt to it.

Pact marks: Lucifer is a bit 50/50 on this. He’d like the pact mark to be in clear sight, because his pact was made to demonstrate a control and ownership over the human. However, because of how pacts usually work, he might fear that it would be perceived as being the other way about. Pact marks in clear sight are fair game, but perhaps somewhere where you could easily cover it up if needed would be preferred, so that he can see it when he wants to without it being on show constantly. He wouldn’t want it on show when you’re at RAD, honestly. He’d prefer for it to be on your back, hand if you’re willing to wear gloves, or neck if you cover it up with a high collar or scarf. Like most things, it all depends on his mood. He’ll adapt and make it clear that he’s no one’s pet no matter what you decide to do.

Mammon

Advantages: We’re already told that if Mammon likes someone, money comes easily to them. His pact partially influences this; if you want something, you’ll find that you’re able to get it much easier than before. This works best for material things, but if you’re very close to Mammon you’ll find that you’ll be able to win over people easier. It isn’t the same kind of charm that a pact with Asmo would grant, but still works fairly well. A pact with both brothers would boost the effects heavily, and you’ll find that you have most people wrapped around your finger after a simple greeting.

Disadvantages: Like Mammon, you might end up stealing to satisfy your greed. Getting everything you want is all well and good but it starts to lose its charm, whereas stealing still has some kind of buzz to it. At the same time, you may not even consider it to be stealing; it will start to feel as though everything already belongs to you. You’ll also become greedy for attention and feel lonely quite quickly. If you weren’t greedy before the effects won’t be as bad.

Pact marks: Mammon is possessive. He wants his pact mark on show - his number one spot would likely be on the back of your hands, so that when you’re holding hands he can rub his thumb over it, and so that its visible when you’re writing in classes or if you raise your hand to your face.

Leviathan

Advantages: Levi’s pact doesn’t necessarily offer many benefits to some people. If you’re willing to step back when you feel jealous and look inside yourself, its perfect for self-introspection and personal growth. It would be best combined with other pacts (especially Lucifer’s), and mostly works as a way of dampening the disadvantages that stronger pacts may offer by preventing you from becoming overly arrogant. It also helps to balance out Mammon’s pact, but does so by lowering your confidence in yourself so that you don’t seek attention or material possessions as much.

Disadvantages: You’re going to feel jealous constantly. If you have low self-esteem, it will present like Levi’s - you’ll believe that the world is unfair, that others are better than you. If you have a higher self-esteem, this will mix in an unhealthy fashion with the arrogance granted by Lucifer’s pact to make you simultaneously believe that you’re too good for everyone, and that you deserve better but can’t reach it because people are in your way. Overall, his pact is the most likely to isolate you from others.

Neutral: Depending on how you view it, this could be a good or bad thing, but Levi’s pact makes people jealous of you. This means that they tend to view you as being someone better than them, and might offer you some opportunities, but it can also make it difficult to form meaningful relationships and will likely isolate you in the end up. This will also have an impact on Mammon and Asmo’s pacts - if Levi’s pact is stronger, it will make people more likely to bend to your will, whilst also disliking you more as they feel unreasonably jealous of you whilst also being drawn to you. If the other’s pacts are stronger, it will lessen obsessions that have no base and will make it easier to form decent relationships that aren’t so superficial.

Pact marks: Anywhere. He doesn’t mind where it is, but if its smaller or less obvious than his brothers’ pact marks, he’s going to feel upset and not know how to deal with it. It all depends on your reasoning, but if you appear to see him as equal to or better than his brothers, he really won’t mind at all. When he’s feeling less awkward, he’ll want to trace his fingers over it, so preferably somewhere he can easily access. Number one spots would be on your shoulder, neck, or wrist.

Satan

Advantages: His pact, oddly, is a good confidence boost. More specifically, it makes you a lot less likely to put up with unfair and unjust behaviour. You’re more confident in speaking out against the things you don’t agree with. You’ll likely end up reading a lot more and educating yourself on everything so that you have the most concrete knowledge on any topic of discussion.

Disadvantages: If you’re not careful, discussions can become arguments and can lead to bad blood easily. You’ll be less forgiving than before, less willing to let things go. And you’re constantly, constantly angry. You’ll have to find a healthy outlet for this quickly, or it’ll consume you. Some relationships may end up tainted by the feelings his pact creates.

Your relationship: Your relationship with Satan is going to be strange. You both act as a comfort for each other, and when you’re around him both of you will be less angry. However, if Satan is in a bad mood and in need of a quick energy boost, he might decide to make you angry so that he can feed off of it. He sees it as being a short term risk; he can soothe you after, if he decides to, and if he believes you’re close enough that you won’t hold onto it. The problem is when he doesn’t. He likes seeing you angry, although preferably not at him, but in the end it really won’t matter so long as you’re mad at someone. Relationships can quickly become unhealthy, but your relationship with him will swing wildly if the two of you don’t sit and talk things over and work out a good balance; the best results would be if you were to go to Satan when angry about something else and let him soothe you by drawing out your anger. That way he gets a boost and the two of you remain relatively calm, keeping your anger in a safe and controlled space.

Pact marks: Back of the hand. He wants to see it when you’re reading. He already builds up a tendency to kiss you on the back of the hand, and he’d like to be reminded of your pact when he does so. Its a softer gesture that he doesn’t offer to many, and he gets to offer it to someone who accepts him no matter what, with a visible reminder of that.

Asmodeus

Advantages: People are going to like you. You’ll be able to charm almost anyone (exceptions being people who are immune to the demons’ powers, and anyone with more power than you). Even if you can’t charm someone, you’ll likely to be able to mildly influence their opinion of you. You’ll also become better at reading people, and will be able to guess at their desires. With enough popularity, you may end up influencing the worlds’ beauty standards to more closely match how you look (if you decide to do influential work in the public eye).

Disadvantages: Whether you try to or not, you’re going to attract all kinds of people. This can put you in dangerous situations and can easily build obsessions. You’ll find the human world to be a much more dangerous place, and will have to be wary of the people around you. Eventually you’ll be able to better influence how much people like you, so that it won’t become an obsession, but you’ll need some form of protection at all times in the human world for quite some time after the pact is made.

Pact marks: Asmo doesn’t mind so long as he gets to see it when he wants to. He wants you to be happy and confident in yourself. That said, he does want to feel like your first priority. Like Levi, he wouldn’t want his pact mark to be smaller or less obvious than his brothers’ marks. His favourite places would be on your chest or the top centre of your back.

Beelzebub

Advantages: Beel’s pact gives you an iron stomach. You can eat anything and as much as you want without it having much of an impact on your weight, although you will end up building muscle a lot easier. Your health will improve, and become as ideal as it can be. You’ll find that you don’t get sick very often and have a stronger immune system. Any dietary needs will become less prominent, from allergies to intolerances. Overall, his pact offers a lot of physical benefits.

Disadvantages: You’re going to feel hungry almost all of the time. Beel’s hunger influences your own, so when he’s hungry, you’ll be hungry too. Not only will eating take up more of your time and focus, but you’ll also have to spend a lot more on food. You won’t be anywhere near his level, but you’ll probably be hitting somewhere around triple the normal recommended daily intake.

Pact marks: Beel wants you to be happy, like Asmo, so you can put the pact mark wherever you want. He won’t pay much notice to it unless he’s feeling particularly low or possessive, but even then just having you around calms him down. He doesn’t need the pact mark to be a reminder of your relationship - he’s got you, and that’s more than enough for him. He’d probably like for you to have the mark over your stomach, if you’d be content with that - it’s an amusing idea to him, and it just feels right. Also, if he wraps his arms around you from behind, he can rest his hand over it.

Belphegor

Advantages: After resting, you’ll function better. You’ll be able to focus better, you’ll be more perceptive, you feel healthier, etc. On good days, you feel well rested after quick naps. His pact is a huge boost to your brain and body, and your mood will benefit from it too, leaving you feeling happier and more capable.

Disadvantages: More often than not, you need to sleep more than before, and on bad days, no amount of rest will be enough. You’ll also easily slip into bad habits in which you end up sleeping instead of actually taking care of yourself. Like Levi’s, his pact can be isolating as sleeping can often seem more appealing than spending meaningful time with people. A controlled sleep schedule is necessary to keep things under control.

Pact marks: Where you put the pact mark is your own decision, and he’s not going to make it for you. That said, he’d prefer for it to be somewhere you can easily see, so that you remember him and think of him often, and he’d rather you didn’t cover it up. He views the pact mark as a lasting reminder of him, and feels betrayed if you don’t view it the same way. The most ideal place would probably be on your hands or wrists, but he’s more likely to have places he hates (e.g. your back, where you couldn’t easily see it) than places he likes.

AN: Sorry for rambling and if this is disorganised ;u;. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!! Feel free to ask any questions you have ^^